Michigan Coronavirus Cases Reach 450,000, Deaths Over 11,000

Detroit MI

17 December, 2020

3:21 PM

Description

MICHIGAN — More than 450,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Michigan as of Thursday, state health officials said. Michigan added 4,024 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 450,776. The state also added 190 new COVID-19 deaths — 125 of which the state said were identified during a Vital Records review. Michigan's coronavirus death toll has now reached 11,208. Michigan surpassed 11,000 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. On Saturday, Michigan health officials said that 236,369 people in Michigan had recovered from the coronavirus. Don't miss important updates from health and government officials on the impact of the coronavirus in Michigan. Sign up for Patch's daily newsletters and email alerts. In Michigan, which ranks among the nation's top states in terms of how many COVID-19 cases and deaths have been reported, according to the World Health Organization, efforts continue to try and prevent the spread of the virus. On Thursday, Michigan health officials said the state was closing in on half a million downloads for its COVID-19 tracking tool app. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget said there have been 461,192 downloads of the MI COVID Alert app as of Thursday. The state also rolled out a second option for users to receive the PIN required to anonymously share a positive COVID-19 test result. "So much about fighting COVID is hard, but this is easy: Please download MI COVID Alert on your phone," Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon said. "It protects your privacy, and it will help protect us all. If we hit even a million downloads by January 2021, we'll be safer until a vaccine is available to the broader population." Meanwhile, the state was seemingly delt a blow on Thursday when it was revealed that the number of COVID-19 doses it was allotted to receive next week would be short by over 20,000. The state initially said it was told by federal officials it would receive 84,000 doses of the vaccine next week, but now state health officials are saying that the number of doses is being cut to around 60,000. Officially previously said the state was expecting "several hundred thousand doses" of the vaccine before the end of the year. Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said the state learned of the reduction Wednesday but noted that the number of doses provided to each state was subject to change. Read More: Michigan's Pfizer Vaccine Allotment Cut, But No One Knows Why